Union Pacific can move one ton of freight nearly 500 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel and is constantly working to develop new technology to improve fuel efficiency.

Union Pacific operates North America's cleanest and most modern locomotive fleet. Since 2000, Union Pacific has spent approximately $6 billion to purchase more than 3,400 locomotives that meet EPA Tier 0, Tier 1 or Tier 2 guidelines, with plans to purchase an additional 200 locomotives in 2012.

Freight trains are almost four times more fuel efficient than trucks and generate a carbon footprint that is on average, 75 percent less than trucks.

Union Pacific pioneered the technology that created a low-emissions switch locomotive, the "Genset Switcher." It has reduced emissions of oxides of nitrogen up to 80 percent and particulate matter by 90 percent while using as much as 37 percent less fuel compared to older switching locomotives.